When you are Near post high, far post low. That's how goal scorers score goals. Don't be too hard on the 'keeper.
Oh, it was a tough shot to stop and I'm not sure Irwin gets it either, but it was the final straw in what was a middling performance by Berner.
That was depressing. I would have been happy with that tie at 90 min. On the road for two games. Irwin please. A new solid RB so O'Neil can go in the middle, and Wynne can find a new home. Please start our DP or put him in the game sooner... or get rid of him. Please score from the run of play...it's the only way to be competitive. I did say please.
I knew our defensive would finally collapse. Powers seems like a ghost in this role. i don't see him providing much at all. we play the long ball to much. no one on our team can dribble past anyone with skill moves other then shanchez. i like some of what i see but another things confuse me. when will our open play goal finally come. and when will these penalties go aganist us karma
Defensively, O'Neill and Moor were the only ones out there that looked like they had ever set foot on a field before. KC's second goal was quintessential post-goal brain fart; utterly preventable and sloppy. Worst performance I've ever seen from Wynne, but I think it's premature to talk about trading him. Watts: I know he's young and inexperienced, but IMO he did not look like a professional caliber player. He looked extremely uncomfortable and would just get rid of the ball as quickly as possible regardless of where he was facing. Then there's Buddle, though his crappy uninspiring play is hardly a surprise. He has not accomplished one single thing since joining the team that justifies him even still being on the roster, let alone being started ahead of Torres. For my money, Sanchez was the only bright spot. The points were there for the taking, though I don't really think we deserved them. The way in which they lost makes this one hard to swallow, but a game like this was an inevitability with all the changes and upheaval during the off-season. Overall, I'd say I'm still happy with the beginning of the Pablo era. Just starting finishing chances and scoring goals from the run of play, OK guys?
Buddle but not Torres, Watts but not Sturgis, Berner but not Irwin. Sub-in Hairston but not Chavez. Aside from defensive issues and not finishing when we should have, those there are some choices I think helped us perform less abley than we could have. SKC showed us how to take a ball up field fast and organized, and then finish. Edit: Just noticed - C-phDave, what the hell you doin' up at 3:30am?
That first goal in particular is all on Wynne. First Wynne attempts to chest the ball directly to LaBrocca, even though there's a defender in the way and Wynne could have easily brought it down himself. Then he completely fails to pick up Zusi and, as you said, watches the ball while Zusi drifts in behind him. Absolutely inexcusable. Wynne needs to go back to the wing. He's going to make tactical mistakes, and I'd rather have the tactical mistakes happen further away from goal.
Watts was surprisingly good. Missed Klute and Serna in a game with those tactics. Buddle not the right guy, could have started Sturgis instead. Buddle looked more fit than Torres . Anyway, lots of lessons learned for Pablo in that one.
Looks like Sturgis really is in dog house as reported. Pablo needs to find a way to get our winger DP Torres into opening XI, even if it means pushing Powers back to box to box role and Sanchez into a "CAM" role. Nice to see Pablo willing to play the Kids, 2 more got their first MLS games ever in. Think this shows Mari is more solid at DM then some thought. Watts first game, I wouldn't read anything into his future performance based on it. However, O'Neil as a RB is stop- gap move only, he just doesn't have the abilities for it.
Lots of harsh judgements. Not sure why LaBrocca gets heat. He probably knits together our possession more than any other player, which I thought was a good thing. He lacks the final ball, but so what... If people want possession they've got to accept that somebody has to consistently and tirelessly show to the ball and keep it moving. I can't imagine not wanting Irwin back, but that ain't Berner's fault. Berner's barely been tested until this game, and he didn't come up big on the final shot. As a rookie fill in I think he's done alright. I'm not sure what people were expecting? Perhaps Clint 2.0 - getting lucky two years in a row? Wynne had a bad game. Maybe even cost us the game. He also saved us a loss in NY in the first 5 minutes. I want O'Neill in the middle, but lets not pretend like Wynne doesn't bring anything to the table. The fact is, the Rapids were lucky to get one PK and while the other was solid it wasn't exactly a DOGSO. They were outmatched everywhere on the field by a better team. KC earned this win regardless of the failings of Wynne and Berner, which were only slightly more noticeable than the failings of the entire offense and their incredible ability to make nothing out of half-chances.
Having the ball at his feet inside the 6 with the keeper beat and not getting any kind of quality shot off? Probably that he was just a fill-in and wouldn't start over a fully healthy Irwin, which is what happened yesterday. Who's said he brings nothing? People have said they'd rather have his weaknesses outside than inside. And they were unlucky not to have the KC keeper sent off in the first half hour. KC earned the win but they weren't leaps and bounds better than the Rapids yesterday.
Burch seems pretty good going forward, though. In the first half he was very far forward and seemed to do well. Passing in a normal buildup is not one of Klute's strengths. OTOH they missed Klute's speed on the counter for KC's first goal. The play was far away from me but I though for sure Burch had the tackle, then he lost him. Gah, needed that little bit of extra speed. I hope Burch's knock is just that and not something that takes him out of the next match, especially with Wynne out.
Our coach was a holding defenseman. This team has no offensive organization to speak of. Is there a connection? After watching all the ways Drew Moore gets beat over the past few years - I would rather see him get beat when he challenges a forward vs. getting beat hanging back and allowing the forward to get off the killer shot. I would also prefer that Drew find something else to do besides heading the ball back to the opposition only so it can boomerang ... Buddle ... trade him now. His first touch is somewhere between granite and non-existent. He no longer scores. Wynn ... trade him now. Sure, he is fast and recovers well. Other than that? Nada. LaBrocca - a capable holding defenseman but needs a truly creative attacking MF to link with to get the ball up and through the mid-field ... otherwise we'll be seeing the long ball for the rest of the year. Gabby - go back and look at the video from last year - find the successful parts ... then re-enable that combination. Get him into playing shape. He is a gifted player completely lost in a shapeless, thoughtless offensive system better suited for high school matches. Vicente Sanchez - love the grit, technical ability, always-on-the-attack guts ... we need 9 more like him. Powers - where is the Dillon of last year ... this year's version simply kicks the ball backwards most of the time. There is still time to right this group.
I keep seeing "trade Buddle" talk. Not sure they could get anything for him. Particularly at his salary. Same with Wynne. I am concerned with Sanchez, he is holding the team together. I am not sure he can play a full season, or even the majority of one. Same with Brown, he is getting beat up pretty badly. It almost seems like the other teams are using that as a tactic. As for Torres, I haven't seen anything from him yet this year to say he should be starting. I am guessing he will get on the pitch when he shows DP level play in practice, but it is a bit painful to see our one DP sitting on the bench. I have not been unhappy with Burch's play in place of Klute. It will be interesting to see when Klute gets back to playing, maybe the goal is to move one of them to RB, move O'Neill back to CB and trade/bench Wynne. rod.
Is this true? I mean it is true on paper. But KC seemed to be off their game, and the Rapids seemed to be generating the better chances from the run of play. They were so off I wondered why Bieler was the lone forward. When Dwyer came on I was surprised it was one for one swap. Couple random things: I take it Dwyer is right-footed? That's how Moor seemed to be playing him--overplaying him so he couldn't cut in onto his right foot and on a better angle at goal. I guess we all know he's got a left foot now: Brown had this great tackle in the 1st along the right touchline. I forget which KC player had the ball--maybe Ellis? He was motoring down the right. Brown ran up alongside him and on the downswing made the tackle with his heel, shoved the ball under the guy's feet which of course tripped him and gave the Rapids the ball. Pretty cool! As I always I was impressed with Brown's work rate and effort in tracking back.
Is it that different from last season? I remember a lot of aimlessness last season as well. A big part of the attack was Brown's speed and long passes. Torres was lost and without service for much of his time last season as well.
Powers does his best work around the center circle. They had him playing very high with Buddle gumming up the middle. Buddle is not the kind of guy Powers can send through with a pass as with Sanchez and Brown (or Serna/Klute, theoretically). I think Colorado plays well when the ball is dislodged in midfield and Powers gets the ball, not when the ball is dislodged too high and the other team has a lot of people back on defence already.
This very problem is one of the reasons Metgod is here, I'd think. Let's hope he's getting some ideas going, from his perch high above The Dick....
Damn guys, I know you didn't get any points and that's always rough, esp. at home... but this was a lot more negative than I was expecting to see. You guys easily won the first half in everything but the scoreline. While we played poorly, I thought it was in large part to your team's play on both sides of the ball... made it difficult for us to find any rhythm and created a number of good chances. Yes, I completely understand how frustrating it is when you play well and can't finish (I am a KC fan... we kinda specialized in that for a period). But the play is there to generate chances and when the ball hits the back of the net for the first time I think the flood gates will open. In the second half we were the fortunate recipients of two very lucky bounces - on the Zusi and Feilhaber goals, and while I thought the first PK was questionable the 2nd was quite legit. If Wynne doesn't lose his mind then I think that a 1-1 scoreline is totally appropriate in that half. Over the course of the game I thought that you guys outplayed us the first half and played us evenly in the second. It takes time for a team to really come together under new direction (I will say I'm not sure how different or similar or different Pareja and Mastroeni are). I have a feeling you'll be just fine and, as I said on our thread, I'm glad we're not playing you again or even later in the season. Anyway, sorry to bother. Good luck on the rest of your season. I hope we don't have to play you in the USOC.
Thanks for the thoughts, it is always interesting to see how someone with loyalties to the other team views things. For whatever reason, this forum could find an issue with anything. We are good that way. Having said that, we certainly were getting greedy. If you asked the forum prior to the season if 4 pts from the first 3 games would be OK, I am betting we would all be on board. We just wanted something out of a hard fought game. rod.